Three Wishes
by JulesDPM
Summary: Scott isn't careful what he wishes for.
1. Chapter 1

**Three Wishes**

_Thanks to my betas Quiller and Lynn for their tireless hard work and enthusiasm. Thanks also to LMC for her input. Despite all this help I am still capable of screwing up so any remaining mistakes are mine, all mine._

Chapter 1: The Rescue

Scott looked down at the little girl he had just rescued. He had saved so many people's lives in the last couple of years that their faces just blended together in his mind and he rarely took notice of their distinguishing features anymore. This was especially true of children. To him they were just short, noisy, messy creatures.

This girl was different. She was captivating, mesmerising and as exquisite as an angel. Scott couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. She was only about three years old and yet she spoke as though she were several years older.

"Thank you for rescuing me and my family, Mr. International Rescue man. We would have died if you had not got us so quickly out of the broken-down building."

"That's okay," replied Scott, "That's what we do."

"You are a good man. You do things and you don't expect people to give you anything back. You're different and nice. I want to give you something special. My gift to you is three wishes…."

Scott smiled in amusement at the child but his smile turned to puzzlement. The girl's eyes seemed so bright – an almost luminous blue. They were drawing him in. He felt giddy….

With a start Scott woke up in bed. He glanced around the darkened bedroom and realised that he'd been asleep. He ran a hand across his face as if trying to wipe the dream away.

The girl had been real enough. Twelve hours earlier he had rescued her and her family from a supermarket with a collapsed roof. But as for the conversation between them, there just hadn't been one. The girl's mother had told her daughter to "Say thank you to the nice International Rescue Man," but the child had hidden behind her mother's legs and, if she had said thank you, it had been lost in the surrounding noise of the rescue site.

_Three wishes, eh?_ Scott shook his head at how bizarre his dream had been. Perhaps Grandma was right, perhaps he shouldn't eat cheese before bed. Scott glanced at the bedside clock and saw it was 5.32am. He considered trying to get more sleep but felt uneasy at the thought of what he might dream about. _Get up and do something, Scott Tracy_.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Dessert

For the rest of that day Scott couldn't shake the slightly eerie feeling the dream had given him. He kept himself busy and also went for a six mile run, being a firm believer that physical exercise could cure most mental ills.

At dinnertime everyone was seated around the huge table eating and chatting. Kyrano had served up a chicken, vegetable and noodle meal that was both tasty and very healthy. It soon disappeared as everyone ate with enthusiasm. Scott couldn't fault Kyrano's food as it was always delicious and nutritious but, as a man of action, he did like his carbohydrates. He was never adverse to fried chicken and fried potatoes but the stodgy, bad-for-you meals only made an appearance after a rescue when the team needed a boost.

Dessert arrived in the form of a fruit salad. As it was placed in front of him, Scott gave a small, disappointed sigh and leant towards Gordon who was seated next to him.

"I wish we were having Grandma's apple pie," he whispered wistfully. Gordon chuckled and was about to reply when…

"YUCK!" Plop.

The "yuck" had been from Virgil who, despite many years of nagging from his grandmother, had still not come to grips with the idea of not starting a course until everyone else had been served. He was sitting opposite Gordon and the 'plop' had been the result of a piece of pineapple being expelled from his mouth with some force and landing in Gordon's bowl. Gordon observed the pineapple for a moment and then looked at Virgil, raising his eyebrows with amusement.

"Having trouble controlling your food, Virg?" he enquired sweetly. Kyrano hurried over to the table.

"Mr. Virgil, is there something wrong with your dish?"

Virgil had the grace to look slightly abashed at his outburst. "I…er…it's only," he began apologetically, "…the fruit salad which, by the way, is usually delicious, tastes a bit…well…sour."

A look of horror appeared on Kyrano's face. Like a magician, he made a spoon appear from his long sleeve and he took a taste of the dessert.

"Oh my goodness, you are right, I am so sorry. I can assure you that it was fine when I made it earlier today. There must have been a delayed reaction between the fruit juices and the syrup. Please accept my sincere apologies."

Kyrano hurried to clear up the dishes as everyone else made comforting murmurs about it not being a problem. Grandma eased herself slowly to her feet.

"I think there's some of my apple pie in the freezer. It won't take a minute to heat through."

After Kyrano had removed Scott's and Gordon's plates, Gordon smiled at his eldest brother. "Looks like your wish came true."

Scott chuckled and then his own smile vanished. His wish _had_ come true. The memory of the dream began to replay in his mind. He almost literally shook himself to get rid of it. He was being ridiculous. He would be the first to admit that, since knowing Kyrano, he was able to give more credence to scientifically unexplainable spiritual happenings but believing that some kid he rescued actually had the power to grant him three wishes? _You're losing it, Scotty_.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Girlfriend

The next afternoon found Scott relaxing on a sun lounger by the side of the pool, beer in one hand and a small laptop in the other. He had been fretting over Thunderbird 1's turbo-jet turbines and had reasoned that, if he was going to spend several hours pouring over technical read-outs, he might as well do it in the sunshine bathing Tracy Island which was preferable to a darkened hangar. In the background was the sound of Virgil getting in a few lengths up and down the pool.

Scott had only been studying the data for an hour when he sat up with a broad smile. "YESSS!" He punched his arm in the air. The solving of the mysterious fluctuations in power a few minutes after take-off could be narrowed down to either one of two relatively simple solutions. Once he had shown Brains it wouldn't take them long to fix it. Scott took another swig of beer. He just wished that solving the problem of setting himself up with a girlfriend was as simple to fix. A broken Thunderbird was easy compared to a broken love life.

There was a gentle purring sound from the poolside vid phone indicating that a call from off the Island was trying to get through. Scott ignored it, still wrapped up in his thoughts. Virgil, who was just heaving himself out of the pool, glanced across at Scott.

"I'll get that, then," he muttered, wondering just how many months it had taken after moving to Tracy Island for him and Scott to start acting like an old married couple. He flicked the switch on the vid phone. A woman appeared on the screen.

"Oooh, Virgil, nice pecs!"

Virgil grinned. "Hi, Lisa. Scott's right here." He turned. "Hey, Scott, it's the lovely Lisa for you." Scott looked up, put down his laptop, and went over to the vid phone. He also smiled at the sight of Lisa.

"Hi, Scott," she said with a fond expression on her face. Lisa and Scott had been great friends at Yale. They had been in all the same classes and Scott would have liked to have made romantic overtures in her direction but Lisa had spent her whole time at college engaged to her high school sweet-heart Dan and Scott had contented himself with friendship.

"Hi Lisa, how are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Never better. What can I do for you?"

"I was calling to ask a favour," replied Lisa, cautiously.

"Go on."

"You know I help with fundraising for the Chicago Children's Memorial Hospital? Our annual ball and auction is taking place in a couple of months. I was hoping that either Gordon or Alan would be willing to donate something."

"Some Olympic swimming trunks or sweaty driving gloves, you mean?"

"You read my mind!"

"No problem, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Scott. There's one more favour."

"And this is the tough one, right?" replied Scott, seeing the worried look on his friend's face.

"I was just hoping that you'd agree to be the guest of honour at the ball." Lisa saw Scott grimace. "Yeh, I know you hate that sort of thing but having one of the mysterious Tracy brothers will mean not only will we sell more tickets but we can jack up the price of them, too. All you have to do is be pleasant and make a short speech about why the Children's Hospital is a good cause. Please, Scott?"

"I really don't like talking about myself in public, you know that. Wouldn't you prefer Alan instead? He could tell a few car racing stories."

"I suppose…" replied Lisa uncertainly. "The thing was, I was wondering if you would also have time to have lunch with me while you were in Chicago?"

There was something in Lisa's tone that made Scott ask, "What about Dan?"

Lisa pulled a face. "He just got engaged to a model named Karine. Come on, Scott, it would be so great to see you again."

Scott failed to contain a happy smile. "It would be great to see you too. Email me the details."

After they had said their goodbyes, Scott switched the vid phone to standby and sat back.

"You look like the cat that's got the cream," commented Virgil.

Scott said nothing, lost in his thoughts again. But this time those thoughts were far from Thunderbird 1's turbine problems. Maybe he hadn't got the cream but there was a definite maybe on the girlfriend front. Then he remembered the dream. Hadn't he just been wishing for a love life before Lisa called? No, surely not. _Pull yourself together, Scott._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Big Hole

"Good job, Alan." Scott clapped a hand on his youngest brother's back and Alan couldn't help but look pleased.

They were both relieved that the rescue had gone well. A disused underground rail tunnel in West Germany had collapsed and an acre of ground above had subsided into a big hole. Unfortunately, this acre of ground had been occupied by a remote research outpost of the German Forest Research Organisation. Local rescue crews had tried in vain to help people trapped below ground level but the instability of the surrounding area had prevented them from getting close enough.

On the scene a rescue attempt had been made using Thunderbird 2 but its hover jets had worsened the problem. Virgil and Scott had to land a mile away from the rescue zone to make sure their aircraft were on solid ground. Precious time had been lost as a safe route was found for the Mole and the Excavator back to the hole.

By the end of the rescue, Scott was reasonably happy that they'd done a good job. Victims had been transferred to hospital and International Rescue was packing up, ready to leave. Virgil and Gordon had driven the vehicles back to Thunderbird 2 and just Scott and Alan were left collecting the remains of the small equipment into a heap to transfer to the pod on hover bikes. 'Waste not, want not,' their grandmother had taught them and, despite their wealth, they were careful to not leave even a small connecting bolt behind.

Scott was pleased with Alan's work. He had been in the thick of the action not only dealing with complicated equipment and procedures but also employing tact with the shocked victims. This is what had earned him the literal pat on the back from his field commander.

"Time for dinner?" enquired Scott, with a grin as he started to walk towards the bikes.

"Oh boy, roll out a ten course meal. I am starving," replied Alan following.

"Virg has some supplies that you can tackle on the way home."

"Uh, he used to. I just remembered I forgot to restock after I ate them during the last rescue," said Alan.

Scott swung around to Alan to admonish him for his neglect but Alan was gone. The ground where Alan had been standing had also gone and, belatedly, Scott heard a yell as Alan fell into a new opening in the ground. Scott began to run back but the ground shook. He stopped and dropped down onto his stomach and commando-crawled to the edge of the hole, trying to spread his weight so as not to increase pressure on the unstable ground.

"Alan? Al? Are you okay?"

Scott was mightily relieved to hear a groan followed by a cough. Alan's voice carried weakly up to him.

"I'm not dead, if that's what you mean. I'm not okay, either. I'm hanging onto some tree roots but I can't get much footing on the sides."

"Hang on. I'll get Virg and Gordon back. We'll get you right out."

Alan's reply was more urgent. "No time, Scott. The roots are shifting. I need to be out of here in less than a minute or I'm going to fall about…well, trust me, it looks a long way down."

"I'll be right back!" Scott crawled away from the edge, deliberately forcing down the panic and turning the adrenaline rushing through him to good use. He ran over to the heap of equipment. He spied a nylon rope. Not exactly International Rescue high-tech equipment but it would do. He ran and then crawled back to the hole, calling reassurances to Alan. He quickly tied the torch from his belt onto the end of the rope, flicked it on and then fed the rope over the edge.

"Look up, Al. There's a rope coming down. There's a flashlight on the end. Can you see it?"

"Yes."

"When you can get it, tie it around you. I'll haul you up." Scott waited for his brother to shout that he was ready. Instead, what Alan said made him go cold.

"It's no use, Scott. It's not long enough. I can't reach it and the roots are shifting. Scott!"

Scott cursed fiercely under his breath. He wished that the stupid rope was just a few metres longer. It was his one chance to save Alan. Suddenly he felt a tug on the rope and heard Alan shout.

"It's okay, I've got it. It must have been caught on something. I'm tying it around me. The roots are coming loose. Hold on to me, Scott!"

Scott braced himself and immediately felt the full weight of Alan on the end of the rope.

"Okay," he said as calmly as he was able. "I'm going to pull you up. Give me as much help as you can, getting footholds on the side."

It was a slow job. Alan headed towards the surface inch by inch and the ground continued to crumble away from the sides of the hole. Eventually he reached flat ground and both he and Scott crawled carefully away until they were able to scramble onto more solid ground.

There they looked at each other, watching the shock slowly recede from each other's faces. Suddenly they both broke into chuckles. Scott shook his head in relief.

"You know, Alan, sometimes, I really wish we hadn't gone into the rescue business."

But Scott had used up all of his three wishes. Which is just as well, isn't it…?

THE END


End file.
